Start with a Kiss
by Stariceling
Summary: A collection of kiss ficlets: Jojo/Lil: An angel's kiss can heal, but not very much. Mephistopheles/Providence: Mephistopheles doesn't understand time, let alone tradition. Sock/Jonathan: Sock wants to start the new year the best way possible. Jonathan/Lil: Lil starts the day frustrated, but Jonathan makes it better. Mephistopheles/Jojo: Sock's boss is nothing like Jojo expected.
1. Lil x Jojo

I wanted to do some drabbles to start off the New Year (2014). Apparently I need to redefine what I mean by drabble. I ended up wanting to explore different character's thoughts on time, change, or just the New Year's Eve holiday.

I really got swept up in this first one. I love Jojo and Lil and want to know more about them. They are so wonderful to write, and I enjoyed the dynamic that developed between them as I wrote and I would definitely like to write more exploring them. I hope you will enjoy them too!

* * *

Lil bit back a swear as she fell hard on the ice. It took just a moment for her to sort herself out and sit up. He palm stung and her elbow ached from how she had landed. Of course, walking behind everyone, no one had noticed she had fallen, except-

"Lil!" Jojo was instantly hovering over her. "Are you hurt? Did you hit your head?"

"M'fine." Lil pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the hands Jojo held out to help her. "I can't exactly accept a hand up from a ghost," she muttered, avoiding the wide blue eyes fixed on her. A twinge went through her left wrist and she rubbed it absentmindedly.

Her mother looked back long enough to call, "Stay with us, Magill."

Not even bothering to argue, Lil followed behind her family. Her guardian angel trotted along beside her, bare feet leaving no mark on the dirty snow.

She had no interest in going to the neighbor's New Year's Eve party. She had a headache before they even arrived, but it wasn't like she had a choice. That was how holidays were with family, getting shuttled around like a child. It wasn't even worth complaining about. Lil discarded her coat and shoes with everyone else's, said hello to her parents' friends, and slipped into the bathroom.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jojo poked her head through the door just as Lil was pushing up her sleeve to get a better look at her wrist. She spotted Lil's hand and offered a sympathetic, "Oh, ow!"

"It's fine," Lil muttered, sticking her hand in the sink to rinse away the blood with an involuntary hiss at the cold water. It wasn't a bad scrape. The heel of her hand stung, and a few of the cinders they scattered on the roads had dug into her skin. Her wrist still hurt, but nothing looked wrong with it.

"I can help, if you'll let me." Jojo slipped into the bathroom and hopped up onto the counter, leaning so she was right in Lil's face.

"What, you have angel healing powers or something?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously?" Lil blinked at Jojo's casual shrug and turned off the water. "Okay. Go ahead."

"I have to kiss you. Is that okay?"

If it had been anyone but Jojo saying that, Lil was pretty sure she would have socked them just out of suspicion. Instead she was shocked silent for a few seconds before wordlessly holding out her hand.

Jojo cupped both hands around hers and pressed a soft kiss to the scrapes on the heel of her hand. She shifted down to leave a lose triangle of kisses on the area of Lil's wrist that had been bothering her.

The twinge disappeared. The blood that had been starting to well up suddenly dried up. The skin closed before her eyes, leaving only slightly softer patches like the new skin under a scab. Lil flexed her fingers and rolled her wrist, but every annoying pinprick of pain was gone. Her hand didn't even feel cold anymore.

Jojo flashed a proud grin at her. "Told you so."

"I also hit my elbow. Can you?" Lil gestured to her right elbow.

"I can fix that."

Jojo hopped down and lifted her arm to kiss her elbow as well. Lil rubbed it, searching for a bruise that was no longer there.

"That's amazing."

"Isn't it?" Jojo put her hands on her hips, tossing her head so her ponytails bobbed.

"Thanks."

Jojo's smile disappeared as her mouth hung open for a moment before snapping shut with an audible click. "That's the first time I've actually been able to help you. That's the first time you've thanked me!"

Flipping down the toilet seat so she could sit down, Lil tried to throttle down her guilt. Jojo really was doing her best to help. She was working hard just putting up with Lil, probably. "I told you I don't need a guardian angel."

"Well you've got one, so stop whining about it! What do you have against me, anyway?"

Lil glared, and was met with a stubborn frown from Jojo. That was part of the problem she had accepting this. Jojo was so obviously human, proud and stubborn and excitable. Even when she was playing divine therapist, it was more like having a friend listen and offer advice and empathy and the occasional verbal kick in the pants than going to confession.

"I don't have a problem with you. It's just the whole angel thing." Just the idea of being so broken she needed divine intervention.

Jojo sighed and took a place in her lap. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm just trying to help."

"You're too lazy to even float," Lil pointed out, snickering when Jojo stuck her tongue out. "How much can you even do?"

"Not much, actually. Even the healing thing is just. . . it's really limited." Jojo put two fingers to her lips thoughtfully. "They tried to explain it during training. It's like energy, and it doesn't conduct very well. If you don't accept it, it might not conduct at all."

Lil found that interesting. She didn't really know much about angels, and Jojo refused to talk about anything connected to her own death, so the only information she had was the tidbits that slipped out now and then.

"So if I was dying-"

"Don't talk about that! I'm supposed to keep that from happening!"

Lil smoothed a hand over Jojo's arm to soothe her, but only received a suspicious glare. "Can you cure a headache?"

It took a few deep breaths for Jojo to calm down. "I can try."

Jojo braced one hand on her shoulder and leaned forward, her other hand stroking Lil's bangs out of the way as she kissed a few times at Lil's temple before kissing her way straight down to her jaw. She wiggled around, in Lil's lap as she switched sides and did the exact same thing, seeming to take a long time on the last few kisses. Lil's headache was easing, but something warm was fluttering around in her stomach instead.

"Why are you kissing me there?"

"You clench your jaw. That's why you get headaches all the time." Jojo sat back, bracing her hands on Lil's knees and giving her a cheeky smirk. "And you grind your teeth."

"I do not!"

"You shouldn't lie."

"Then why don't you 'cure' all my bad habits while you're at it?" Lil snapped, all too aware that she was tensing not only her jaw, but her abdominal muscles, trying to crush the butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach.

"Are you kidding? If someone tried to give you a magic kiss to fix everything wrong in your life, you'd punch them in the mouth."

There were a lot of things Lil wished she could change that easily. She thought of features she wanted to dig out and discard; how she had to clench her hands into fists to stop them from shaking, the awkwardness of her smile, the cadence of her voice and the sound of her laugh. She didn't even know how to remove the feeling of being empty inside, dull and lonely.

Desperately as she wanted to change, it was a sickening thought to leave it in someone else's hands, to be carved up and rearranged into a pattern of their choosing. She refused to let that happen.

"I'd do worse than punch them."

"See, I know you." Jojo shrugged. "Not like it's an issue. My job is just to comfort and stuff like that."

Comfort wasn't exactly the word for what she was feeling right now, but maybe it was close enough. Now that she thought about it she didn't feel quite so lonely these days, with Jojo following her around being relentlessly cheerful at her and trying to get her to talk. Jojo actually listened to her. It seemed like she should know better by now.

"I probably can't be fixed anyway."

"Lil, stop that. I thought we were making progress."

"I'm just getting in the New Year's spirit."

"You know what your problem is? You think you have one big problem," Jojo held her hands up like she was squeezing something about the size of a basketball between them. "But it's actually tons of little problems all piled on top of each other. And then when you can't figure out what it is you get mad and start just being like _that_. But instead of beating your head on the whole big mess all the time, we could focus on one small problem at a time."

"So you think my problems are small?" Lil asked, gearing up to be offended.

"Small enough to fix. Maybe even small enough for angels to fix," Jojo teased gently.

Lil let out a long breath, facing the hopeful quirk of Jojo's eyebrows, and relaxed her annoyance enough to tease back. "Small enough to fix with kisses?"

"I don't know, maybe." Jojo's face flushed, which meant Lil had won.

She didn't know what to think of Jojo's assessment. It was true there was more than one thing wrong, but she didn't see how it could do any good to focus on one thing or another. Why couldn't she just be tougher and deal with everything?

"So, you gonna listen to me for once?"

One small problem she had was a lapful of hopeful angel. Jojo was biting her lip, watching her with what Lil thought of as her 'angel look.' Innocently wide eyes saying she was putting everything she had into her job, trying to be nothing but this ideal of perfect, loving care.

"Okay, I think I've got one." Lil automatically looked away from how Jojo's face lit up, then made herself look back. "Is it okay if I kiss you?"

"Of course."

Lil touched a soft kiss to Jojo's cheek and drew back again. "I never said thank you. For putting up with me."

"Don't say that too much or it won't be special." Jojo bumped her nose playfully against Lil's. "And while we're setting things straight: I'm not 'putting up with you.' I like you."

Lil shifted, tilting her head so their noses were no longer pressed together, and had Jojo meet her. The first brush of a kiss was soft, uncharacteristically shy as both waited to see if the other would wince away.

They shared a wordless breath, a silent agreement, before coming together again in a firm kiss. Jojo hummed happy noises against her mouth, one hand cupping her jaw while the other stroked her bangs back behind her ear.

Lil wanted to laugh at the unanticipated gestures of affection, but more than that she wanted to keep kissing Jojo, moving her lips slow and firm as if to spell out what she needed to say. Jojo wasn't using the same healing energy, but Lil still felt something inside of her relax. It was as if one hair-thin thread out of the mess of her self had been teased free.

When they parted her lips tingled with the urge to be pressed against Jojo's again. She licked them absentmindedly, watching Jojo's deeply satisfied smile.

"I still don't think I need an angel, but I like you too."


	2. Mephistopheles x Providence

On the one hand, I'm not sure I did a very good job writing these guys. Possibly if they threw a boatload of snark at each other instead, but let's just say they try to be civil once in a while.

I wanted to focus on Mephistopheles not really having a concept of time, and what that means to him, especially in terms of his falling out with Providence versus his love for Her.

* * *

Providence was relaxing in the ear-popping silence of space. She had the same infuriatingly divine poise as always, Her form commanding and Her suit pristine. She turned to watch as he moved into that same stretch of space. The void seemed to instantly leach the heat of Hell from his body.

"Glad you could join me."

Mephistopheles rolled his shoulders, settling his suit jacket straight and smooth. His smile came easily, wide as the span of his confidence and doing nothing to warm Her face. "See what happens when you ask nicely?"

This was the closest they had to neutral ground, not Heaven or Hell or the surface of the world She had created. She hadn't given him a reason to come, which meant being here in the same time and space was the only reason. He wasn't sure how long ago She had started doing that, Her requests the only thing memorable enough to mark off uncounted units of time. It was almost _human_ of Her. It was sentimental. It was _weird_.

"We could make it a tradition," She suggested. He hated when She guessed at his thoughts.

"You're basing it on time? That's such a human concept."

"I think it's clever. Did you notice they made a new calendar?"

"That doesn't actually impact us, does it?"

This insistence on thinking in linear time didn't solve anything. Time hadn't made Her bored of Her little human project. Time didn't buy anyone forgiveness.

"It impacts them. You spend so much time playing with human souls, I'm sure you would understand it if you tried."

He still didn't understand why She didn't make them in Her image. Oh, some of them, vaguely, if you squinted to only see that narrow band of light caught by human eyes and ignored the staggering octaves of Her voice and the fact that She smelled like the center of a star. She had soon gotten bored with that and allowed them more variety. Which, being human, they now fought over.

They were clay and salt water. She was starlight and dark matter, energy and entropy, the terrible beauty of life and the calm mercy of death.

And She was watching Her terrarium again, chin resting on Her hand as the world turned and sunlight glowed through the soft eggshell of the atmosphere. An easy smile creased Her face, the expression holding more nuance for him than the continents below.

He wanted to study that smile, to bask in Her presence as he had for an eternity that had been allowed to end, but for that he needed to prove something about Her human experiment.

"Well, can't waste this 'time' of yours sitting around here. Some of us have a lot of souls to punish, after all."

Providence turned back towards him, Her smile widening to include a flash of perfect pointed teeth. "I could almost suspect you were trying to do your job."

"Maybe because I am doing my job." She had a habit of making him feel like a sulky angel again, and it drove him crazy because that self was gone.

"Mephistopheles." She was the only one who could load so much weight into his name. That never changed.

Nothing changed. Nothing was changing. Nothing was allowed to change. If he was angry and dissatisfied, if he was unforgiven, that was how it would always be.

"Do you have something to say to me?"

"Not a thing." He reached for Her hand and could swear She sighed when She offered it for him to kiss. It was one vanished gesture he had regained, regulated to these meaningless moments.

To borrow a human word, he might have called the kiss he pressed to Her palm 'tradition.'


	3. Sock x Jonathan

It's not to late to ring in the new year with some Sockathan, right?

* * *

Jonathan jerked awake to Sock yelling his name. He groaned, throwing one arm over his eyes. "What is wrong with you?"

"It's almost midnight!"

"Why would I care?"

"Because it's New Year's Eve! It's gonna be next year and you should be awake for it."

Jonathan lifted his arm enough to glare at Sock. The demon was floating right over him, light from the full moon shining eerily through him, giving Jonathan a manic grin. If he hadn't known Sock the effect might have been a bit unnerving.

"I don't care."

"Why are you so boring? You're supposed to go to a party and get drunk and kiss someone at midnight."

Jonathan sat up, rubbing his face. Apparently Sock was going to pester him for at least another couple minutes before he could go back to sleep. "I hate parties. I'm too young to drink. I have no one to kiss. Oh, and I don't live in a freaking sitcom."

"You're not even going to make a resolution?"

"No. Why would I bother?"

"You should resolve to make next year better, so then when you fail you'll feel even worse and listen to me!"

"Why don't you resolve to suck less at your job?"

"I-I don't! I'm putting in overtime!"

That Jonathan found he couldn't argue with. Sock was certainly always there, even if he wasn't always this annoying.

He knew when midnight came because of the faint cheers outside and staccato popping sounds.

"Look, Jonathan, fireworks!"

Sock grabbed blindly to pull him to the window, hand passing right through his arm, but Jonathan moved to look anyway. They could just see the bright bursts of sparks set off from a few streets away. Blue, green, and a shower of white stars.

"You have to make a wish!"

"What, on the fireworks?"

"No, on the new year!"

Jonathan rolled his eyes, continuing to look out the window though no more fireworks appeared. That was a ridiculous idea, and besides he couldn't think of anything to wish for. The only thing he wanted was for both of them to make it through another year.

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Something cool and soft brushed his cheek, and when he turned he caught Sock sitting back with a smug little smile.

"You were wrong about having no one to kiss at midnight. So, did your wish come true in record time?" He winked, tilting his head in a way that was probably meant to be suave, if he wasn't so ridiculous.

"Not even close, you little pest. That's what you wanted." That was probably what Sock had been after the whole time.

"You wish."

"So you don't want a real kiss?"

The smug attempt at charm vanished abruptly. "Wait, is. . . is that an option?"

Jonathan didn't even answer. He tugged on Sock's scarf, making the stunned demon float to him with no resistance, and moved to intercept Sock with a kiss.

Sock came alive at the lazy press of his lips, returning it with a kiss made sloppy and eager with enthusiasm.

"That's what you wanted?" Jonathan asked as he broke the kiss.

"Mm-hm," Sock admitted, drifting after him, lips pursed for more kisses.

"Good, because that's your kiss for the year."

"Wait, what?"

"I'm going back to sleep," Jonathan announced, turning his back on Sock and crawling into his bed.

"Only one for the whole year!?"

"That's what you get for waking me up."

Jonathan rolled onto his stomach and clamped his pillow over his head to shut out Sock's pleading. It also helped hide the smile that had crept unbidden onto his face. Sock was going to pester him for days about this, but right at that moment it was worth it.


	4. Jonathan x Lil

I can't decide if I have a crush on Lil or I just really love writing her POV. This is another one I just wanted to keep writing and writing because there are so many little ideas I barely brought up that I want to play with more.

* * *

Lil dragged her way through the first school day of the new year with a bored, incessant frustration grinding around in her chest. The entire morning was a succession of petty things going wrong until everything grated on her nerves, down to just hearing people talk about parties and resolutions and telling that stupid joke about 'I haven't seen you since last year,' over and over. On top of that she had the little angel at her shoulder reminding her every hour or so to calm down. Jojo had decided that Lil's resolution should be to reign in her temper, and was going out of her way to help.

Jonathan met her at her locker and walked her to lunch, finding the most deserted table in the cafeteria to sit at. Sock plopped himself down on Jonathan's other side while Jojo settled on the bench beside her. If a distrustful glare passed between angel and demon, at least for now they were staying on opposite sides of the barrier made by their human charges.

"Are you okay?" Jonathan asked.

"M'fine. I'm just frustrated."

"You're just determined to start the year off in a bad mood," Jojo teased. Lil was too sick of their argument to find it funny anymore.

Jonathan didn't tease. "I won't bug you, then."

"I know." That was why she was glad to at least spend lunch with him. Just bring around Jonathan made her feel more calm. She wanted to hug him, to press her face into his shoulder and stay there until the soft, gray warmth of his presence had muffled all the petty frustrations picking at her.

She didn't move, hanging onto the bench and feeling more frustrated with herself than anyone else as she watched Jonathan pulling his lunch out of his bag.

"I thought you didn't like sandwiches anymore. You haven't eaten one since last year!"

Jonathan groaned so loudly at Sock's joke, Lil almost wanted to laugh.

"He's been doing this all day," he complained to her. "How is he not sick of it yet?"

Lil bumped her shoulder against his in solidarity. "The worst was in math. 'I haven't given you a quiz since last year.' Not funny."

"That sucks." Jonathan's hand touched hers where it was braced on the bench, backing off for a moment so she could uncurl her hand and take his. He clasped her hand tightly, squeezing it briefly in a way that she was sure had to mean something, for how it made her heart jump.

Jonathan ducked his head slightly, hiding his face as he started eating his sandwich left-handed. Lil had to look away, trying to suppress a blush through sheer willpower.

She caught Jojo smirking at her and glared. For some reason this only seemed to encourage her, because Jojo hugged herself and made kissing faces at Lil.

"Cut that out," Lil hissed.

Jojo had been against Jonathan at first, convinced he was some kind of creeper. Lately she had accepted him enough to move on to teasing Lil about her crush. Lil knew it wasn't secret that she liked him, but having it pointed out still made her squirm.

"You know what else you haven't done?" Sock started again. "You didn't tell Lil you haven't seen her since last year! How will she know you missed her?"

Jonathan muttered something into his sandwich, threatening the next person to tell that joke with indistinct consequences and making Sock laugh.

It looked like angel and demon agreed on something for once, which was funny since the last thing they had agreed on was that Lil and Jonathan should definitely stay away from each other. This was an improvement. Lil could adapt to this. Teasing was better than fighting about it.

"It's too bad." Lil shifted closer and lowered her voice. "I was just thinking, I haven't kissed you since last year."

Jonathan choked and dropped his sandwich. Sock burst out laughing and Jojo yelled at him to cut it out. Lil just watched as Jonathan recovered and turned to stare at her, mouth working soundlessly.

"So, what were you going to do to me for telling that joke?"

Jonathan had to swallow hard before he could ask, "What, now?"

"Sure." Lil didn't think until she'd said it, until Jonathan was leaning closer, that his response would be to kiss her right there in the cafeteria.

She tightened her grip on his hand as he touched a soft peck to her lips, nearly as awkward and hopeful as their first kiss had been. It was annoyingly fitting.

Sock whooped, interrupting the moment. "I told you it was a good joke!"

"I have mixed feelings," Jonathan muttered.

Lil interrupted him with another kiss, pressing into it more than a soft touch of lips on lips. It only took an instant for Jonathan to melt into her, his eyes sliding closed and his free hand moving to cup the back of her neck. She focused on kissing him thoroughly. He accepted her, slow and warm and lazy.

Lil forced herself to breathe slowly and calmly when she pulled away. "So, mixed feelings?"

"Not about you."

Lil ducked her head, feeling her face start to burn. Jonathan was always blunt, but sometimes he completely blind sided her. She had been teasing, but it didn't sound like he was.

Giving his hand a squeeze, and feeling him squeeze back almost instantly, Lil decided that she didn't care what little things went wrong today. Right now she was poised to start the year in a very good mood.


	5. Mephistopheles x Jojo

Request pairing! Kinda pre-ship because I ended up trying to write this seriously so it ended up more getting to know you than falling into each other's arms. I would say I'm sorry but I'm not sorry at all! It was fun to write!

Notes: Word of God at this point is that Sock didn't kill Jojo (an old plan that was changed) so I went with that and fiddled around with the idea of why she hates him. Also playing around with Mephi's fallen angel status.

* * *

Jojo decided she was off duty. Lil was happy for the moment. It was safe to leave her with Jonathan, both of them distracted by listening to some weird music they had found. More importantly, Sock had decided to take a break and slipped off.

Stalking her adversary, Jojo run through justifications in her head. He had far too easy access to her client. He was acting suspiciously. Didn't being a guardian mean laying down a little ass-whooping when necessary?

Sock ducked into an alley between a café and a new-age boutique. He looked around nervously, completely neglecting to look up where Jojo was hovering.

She fell on him like the perfect image of an avenging angel. Sock could only let out a startled yelp, flailing and trying to push her off while she tried to lay down as much damage as possible. Jojo was dimly aware that she was shouting, "I'm gonna kill you, you didn't die hard enough!" in response to Sock's verbal scrambling wanting to know why she was hitting him.

Then someone grabbed her around the waist, pulling her off of Sock. Jojo twisted to fight her assailant, only to realize she was staring down another demon. He wasn't quite like Sock, and not just because of his mature face and suave suit. His skin glowed from within with a color she had no name for, like one of the first tier angels. There was only one inhuman angel with the mark of a demon, meaning she was staring down the devil himself.

"Hey there, angel face. Can you do me a favor and not pummel him until we finish this meeting?" He turned a smile on her, sharp as a lie.

Jojo tried to punch him in the face, only to have her arm caught. She kicked out, digging her heel into his stomach hard enough to knock the air out of him. There was a sudden searing pain in her arm before his grip loosened enough that she could jerk herself free and fly.

She didn't go far, landing on a roof overlooking the alley and clutching her arm. There had been no pursuit, and she could still hear them talking.

"So, you've got an angel in the way. Is that why you're not having any luck, Sock?"

"N-no! I mean, she doesn't care what happens to Jonathan, so she's not really in the way," Sock babbled. "I'm just trying to be subtle, because nothing else I've tried worked. So it's taking a while, is all."

"And here I was worried you were getting distracted."

Jojo peered over the edge of the roof, watching Sock fidget. She wondered if she was going to see some kind of infernal punishment. It sounded like Sock was not doing well at his job, and he hadn't done much she was aware of to really hurt Jonathan. Instead, his boss simply clapped him on the back.

"Well, he is your first. Think of it as job experience!"

"Sure. Then I should get back to making him miserable," Sock stammered.

Sock escaped, and Jojo lay back, confused by how anticlimactic that had been compared to reporting to heaven.

"I haven't forgotten about you, angel face."

Jojo stuck her head out again to find the devil looking up at her. His sideburns framed his face in a jagged mane, and she didn't trust his relaxed pose. "It's Jojo," she told him.

"Alright then, Jojo. Call me Mephistopheles." He paused for half a second, as if waiting for her to test out his name and then asked, "Can't heal that burn yourself, can you?"

The burn on her arm throbbed in response, and Jojo gritted her teeth. "It's fine. What do you want?"

"A civil conversation would be nice. But, barring that, She does tend to get vengeful if I harass any of Her angels."

In a blink he had gone from standing in the alley below to standing on the roof behind her, just out of range with his hands tucked in his pockets. Jojo scrambled to her feet and backed away, eyeing him suspiciously and suddenly afraid to turn her back in case he blinked closer.

"You realize I'm offering to _heal_ you, not _harass_ you." Mephistopheles sighed, reaching up to rub his temple. "I didn't intend to hurt you."

"Yeah, well you did!" Jojo snapped. If felt like fire was still eating into her skin. Was this what hellfire felt like? She wasn't sure how anyone had decided the damned deserved this all the time.

Mephistopheles frowned. For an instant, even with his well-pressed suit and his hair that stood out like static flames, there was something sulky and almost childish in his face. It was more interesting than the slick smile.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," he amended. "Now will you let me fix it?"

Jojo edged closer, watching for any sign of danger. He held his hands out, palms up, and she hesitated. "I'm not sorry I kicked you," she blurted out.

"Yeah, well. You had a reason for that."

Jojo put her arm out, flinching at his careful touch. He took her arm in both hands, one cupped under her elbow and the other cradling her wrist, and pressed a kiss right in the center of the burn.

The burn faded into nothing, leaving only a feeling of tingling warmth in her skin. Mephistopheles released her arm and took a step back.

"You're not supposed to be able to do that," Jojo exclaimed.

"I hate to tell you, but the rules aren't always consistent."

Jojo rubbed her arm to make the tingling sensation go away. "More like you break the rules."

"Oh, that too." Mephistopheles favored her with a serpentine smile. "Now, are you going to tell me why you were throttling one of my employees?"

Because he's too close to my client. Because he's a demon and I'm an angel and we're supposed to fight. There were a hundred excuses and no one should judge her for lying to him. Wasn't he supposed to be the prince of lies? Yet Jojo burst out, "Because I hate him!"

"You know, most people would be satisfied knowing the person they hate went to Hell."

"It's not like you're punishing him."

"You think you can do a better job of punishing someone?" Mephistopheles paused and studied her while she glared, not willing to risk another burn. "Actually, you might be right. It does beg the question of why you're wasting that energy on Sock, and not the person who killed you."

"What he did was worse." Jojo could feel the too-familiar churn of memory in her gut, the bone-deep pain of betrayal. What Sock did to her was personal. It was unforgivable.

"Ah, well. Far be it for me to argue with your priorities."

Jojo hugged herself, rubbing her healed arm, trying to will herself not to care what he said. Everyone had always turned it into a discussion of intent or character and tried to tell her how to feel about what happened. But now the ruler of Hell himself was saying he didn't want to argue with her. "Thank you. For understanding."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I don't understand at all. I do know you people tend to take death very personally, but I don't see any reason why you can't feel differently. Then again, no one's ever killed me."

Jojo let out a startled bark of laugh, and she could swear she saw the flash of a warm smile on Mephistopheles' face before he paced to the edge of the roof, arms crossed behind his back as he looked out over the rooftops.

"I do know what it feels like to be betrayed," he added. "I won't tell you to let that go."

In the history she had been given, he was the betrayer. He was the one fallen angel. Jojo almost wanted to ask what he meant. Even if he lied. She wasn't sure how much the truth mattered anymore.

"So you know, I'm not going to stop trying to get Sock back."

"Fair enough. You know if you keep him from doing his job you'll be getting another visit from me."

"I'll see you then." Jojo didn't think it would be bad to see him again. The embodiment and the arbitrator of sin, definitely not someone she trusted, but just knowing that she didn't have to trust him was a brand new sort of security.


End file.
